BluFlux RF Technologies in Louisville has a recently issued patent that paves the way for a cellphone case that boosts a cellphone’s signal by two bars.

Apparently, a person’s body and hands often interfere with the signal and degrade the connection by up to 90 percent, according to Ben Wilmhoff, BluFlux’s founder and president.

So Wilmhoff and his team created a prototype case using his technology. An exterior antenna flips out from the bottom and away from the face and hands. This helps the phone communicate with nearby cell towers and get better signal. Here’s a link to BluFlux’s U.S. Patent 20150011273 A1.

Ben Wilmhoff, Founder and President of BluFlux, testing the phone case. The bottom flips out to improve the signal. An app will indicate to the user when the case would benefit from being opened.

BluFlux tested this out inside a special testing chamber the company built to test radio frequencies. Inside, Wilmhoff saw a 10 dB improvement — or a 10-times improvement he said. That’s him in the chamber in the photo above. On the right, a closeup of the phone. And below, an illustration of how the phone works. All photos courtesy of BluFlux.

The other benefit is the case doesn’t contribute to cellular radiation, which concerns many people. In fact, Wilmhoff said, since signal is directed away from the body, the person absorbs much less than what the U.S. safety standards allow.

BluFlux, which is partly owned by OtterBox owners Blue Ocean Enterprises, now needs to figure out if it will manufacture its own cases or license the technology. If everything moves smoothly, the first cases could hit the market in early 2016, Wilmhoff estimated.

Joe Clayton, Dish Network’s president and CEO since June 2011, will retire on March 31, 2015. Here, Clayton sits in his office and shows off the tenets of customer service, which is on the back of all employee badges.

After less than four years at the helm, Dish Network’s Joseph P. Clayton, 65, announced Monday that he will retire from his role as CEO and president on March 31, 2015.

The affable Clayton — who led the company as Dish unveiled an innovative stream of DVRs, TV equipment and other technology — became CEO in June 2011. Dish co-founder and chairman Charles W. Ergen will assume those roles.

On the back of his badge, Joe Clayton has a list of actions every employee needs to remember.

In a statement, Ergen called Clayton’s leadership “instrumental to Dish” and looked forward to the future: “He has set the stage for what will become a new company, and with that he has prepared a new class of management to address the adventures coming our way.”

Under Clayton, the satellite TV company launched the Hopper DVR and its controversial AutoHop technology, which allowed consumers to skip TV commercials with the press of a button. The company also expanded into satellite-based Internet service, or DishNet, to serve people living in more remote areas. And earlier this year, it launched Sling TV, an online and app-based live TV service targeting consumers who cut the cord.

“This team has done what it said it would – our operations are stronger, our leadership is deeper, our outlook is as positive as it ever has been,” said Clayton in a statement. “We were able to launch the Hopper, dishNet and Sling TV, navigate two spectrum auctions and deliver for our customers throughout. All of it was with great success – I am proud to have served with such a remarkable team.”

Clayton has long been in the broadcast and Internet businesses. Before Dish, he was chairman of Sirius Satellite Radio. He also served as president of Global Crossing North America, and president and CEO of Frontier Corp.

Outside Zayo’s first Denver data center, which joined the Boulder company on Monday, February 23, 2015, after the close of its $675 million acquisition of Latisys Holdings.

Zayo Group on Monday said it completed its $675 million purchase of Latisys Holdings, which makes the acquisition the Boulder company’s second largest ever. But its purchase of the Englewood company has more significance than usual: Zayo now has its first Denver data center.

Denver was not even a dot on Zayo’s zColo map (shown above). ZColo is Zayo’s colocation service, which lets customers either rent space at a Zayo data center or let Zayo manage a customer’s computers and network like an outsourced IT staff. Read more…

When five of its graduates built companies based on smart devices last year, Boomtown Boulder took a hint and embraced the technology known as the Internet of Things.

By May, the tech accelerator plans to open what is possibly the area’s first Internet of Things Lab targeting startups and entrepreneurs who want to make devices, apps and software for the space. Comcast Labs, a partner, is providing experts, resources and broadband, plus an undisclosed amount of money.

Boomtown Boulder’s 5,500-square-foot space will be split between the existing tech accelerator and a new Internet of Things lab. Image courtesy of Boomtown.

“In the future, even if you believe you are just an Internet or a mobile app company, you’re going to have to make sure your technology plays with this myriad of new platforms and devices,” said Toby Krout, Boomtown’s managing director. “We think it is our responsibility to have a lab where our companies have a place to work on the protocols. We’re planning for the future.”

Chui, a 2014 Boomtown accelerator graduate, is working on a smart doorbell that will recognize homeowners using facial recognition.

IoT labs are sparse but not unheard of. A handful of universities , private companies and other efforts offer resources to students and companies wanting to test out devices and software.

Boomtown’s building, at 2060 Broadway, currently serves as a coworking space and a spot for companies in its accelerator, a 3-month program for tech startups that occurs twice a year. Prior to 2014, it was a coworking space known as Scrib.

The new lab will be housed in the existing 5,500-square-foot facility. “We had more space than we needed for an accelerator,” Krout said. Read more…

And no wonder there are two CEOs interested in this topic. Presenter Kelly Dunkin from the Colorado Health Foundation made a convincing pitch on Monday with an animated slide that showed how fat we’re getting:

In 20 years, adult obesity rates have skyrocketed. Notice there’s no more blue in 2010. Download the report by clicking the image above. Source: CDC

Comcast is no longer a startup, but it’s giving a grateful nod to startups everywhere who often find a faster way around problems than long-time businesses.

The second-annual Comcast Business Innovations 4 Entrepreneurs competition will award $10,000 each to 32 companies in the 16 states where Comcast does business. Two winners will be chosen from Colorado. And six will get an additional $20,000 as grand prize winners.

For a chance at the jackpot, startups need to submit a 250-word essay answering this question: “How will $30,000 help you take your business to the next level?” You can submit that here: business.comcast.com/i4E

The contest is open to startups less than two years old or entrepreneurs who have been in business for more than two years. Companies must have fewer than 50 employees and cannot be a franchise. Also, the business must be in an area served by Comcast, which includes “the majority of Colorado, from Metro Denver north to Ft. Collins/Greeley and south to Colorado Springs/Pueblo and up the I70 corridor (Summit County/Vail/Aspen/Steamboat),” according to the company. Deadline to enter is March 15. Regional winners will be notified April 27.

Sling TV wasn’t kidding when it said more announcements were coming back in January when Dish Network unveiled the new online TV service.

Today, it’s a deal with EPIX, which has a library of more than 2,000 movies (“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Transformers: Age of Extinction” are cited as examples). EPIX is the joint venture between Viacom, Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Lionsgate. So, think of the movies!

EPIX movies will be offered “on-demand in an add-on package” for Sling TV customers. No launch date or price was announced.

Separately, Dish announced that it reached a multi-year deal with EPIX to offer the channels — EPIX, EPIX2, EPIX3 and EPIX Drive-In — to its satellite TV customers.

“I love this pic of my Dad & Daughter cuz he has Alztimers (sic) now, but still remembers her!” wrote Kim, with an old picture (shown above) of her dad and daughter, who’s now 11.

Apparently, jotting down a description drew people into the contest like never before. By Thursday, 12 days in, the contest had more than 3,000 entries. It has become one of Photobucket’s most popular contests ever.

“In the past we’d run contests that would surface some very cool user content including nature photography, costume contests, or very lighthearted concepts like best selfie cutest pet pic. This is the first time we’ve been able to capture the emotional motivation behind why our users take and hold onto photos,” said Derek Cann, the company’s marketing manger tells me.

“The appeal of this contest for me is that it speaks to the power of the emotion behind photos. People shoot and consume more photos than ever, we all quickly scroll past hundreds of photos a day on our various social networks, this contest is asking people to stop and appreciate the meaning behind the photos.”

Nearly 800 photos captured on Twitter are posted HERE. People are also posting on Facebook and Instagram.

The #LoveOfPhotos contest ends February 28, 2015. The winner — to be picked by judges based on creativity and originality and capturing the essence of the contest — gets a $500 Amazon gift card. Complete rules HERE.

The report analyzed e-mail between October to December last year and found the average inbox received just 10 e-mails a day. Nearly half of everybody received fewer than six a day. About 14 percent received more than 20.

Now, ReturnPath knows a lot about e-mail. It is the behind-the-scenes company that analyzes e-mail sent to consumers by 180,000-plus companies. Customers include SendGrid, the Boulder firm that sends out 14 billion e-mails a month for customers like Pinterest, Uber and Spotify. This particular report studied 3.8 billion messages delivered to 2 million subscribers during the quarter.

I don’t know about your inbox, but I’m obviously not average. By 11:33 a.m. Thursday, I counted 59 e-mails since midnight in my inbox dedicated to promotional e-mails (all those retailers who insist on having an e-mail address). Another eight ended up in the spam folder. I’m scared to count up the messages in my regular e-mail, let alone my work address (the latter, I want to add, began getting spam within 24 hours of being created — how is that possible?) Read more…

Tamara Chuang covers personal technology and local tech news for The Denver Post. She previously spent 10 years doing the same thing for The Orange County Register before taking a hiatus to move here and become a SAHM to a precocious toddler.

Laura Keeney is a business reporter with The Denver Post, covering aerospace, aviation and biotech. Over the last two decades, she's covered everything from agribusiness to punk rock. Keeney holds an AACSB-accredited MBA from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY.